Zero waste leaders share best practice in Lithuania

by Marco Giacomazzi

Žiedinė ekonomika (Circular Economy) was founded by Domantas Tracevičius to actively promote the separate collection of biowaste to show that it is both economically and environmentally sound and that it is very good practice to be able to separately collect many other recyclables.

Žiedinė ekonomika’s team is particularly active in promoting waste management best practices and they wish to show to Lithuanians that they do not need a third incinerator in Kaunas. This article is translated from the original in Lithuanian.

On September 22, 2017, Žiedinė ekonomika (Circular economy) together with Zero Waste Europe organised an event dedicated to the dissemination of experiences and best practices in the field of bio-waste separate collection to Lithuanian civil society. The focus was on the experience from Zero Waste Cities, like Parma and Ljubljana, and Milan. More than 50 people from different municipalities and regional waste management centres participated.

On the day of the event, Domantas Tracevičius, described the concept of a “Zero Waste Municipality” and how it is common in the European Union.

Enzo Favoino, agronomist, one of the most prominent bio-waste management experts in the EU, and chair of the Zero Waste Europe scientific committee explained how the future policy was shaping in that area and presented the experience of bio-waste separate collection from Milan. According to Favoino “the EU’s top officers have highlighted that dissemination of good practices helps to bring the future forward and build confidence across Europe. In fact, there is evidence of the practicability of ZW strategies in a wide range of situations, from smallest villages to densely populated areas”.

Later on in the day, Gabriele Folli, the former Vice-President of the municipality Parma, Italy, showed the high achievements that are possible to achieve. He introduced a separate collection system for bio-waste and other materials, which is now able to collect over 80% of all waste. In his own words “Sharing and disseminating good practices on circular economy is the best way to help local administration to go towards sustainability with their communities. I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues before starting the Zero Waste programme in the city of Parma and now it’s a great pleasure for me to show our results to other communities”. Zero Waste and separate collection schemes are also drivers of the creative application of new technologies and various other amenities for the population.

More experience in the separate collection of bio-waste came from the Baltic State Estonia. Kristjan Mark, Head of the Waste Management Division at the Environment Department of the Tallin City Council, spoke of how bio-waste is currently being collected in Tallinn.

Joze Gregorych, head of the waste management project at Snaga, a Slovenian public company, outlined why Ljubljana is the greenest and best-performing EU capital in terms of kilos of waste produced per person per year.

Finally, Tomasz Wojciechowski, Head of the Local Wastewater Treatment Plant and circular economist from GWDA, Poland, presented the results of a pilot project at the family level. The project involved 25 families (58 people) and in three months Total 527 kg of waste was collected. On average, 908 kilograms of biowaste was generated per resident during the three months of the programme. The minimum percent of impurities in the collection was 0.25%, the maximum 10%, and the mean value was 2.63%. Major impurities were: foil bags, multi-material packages and plastic packaging.

At the end of the Day, Domantas said “We hope that Lithuania will have the first Lithuanian Zero Waste Municipality soon”. We cannot help sharing his wish and keeping on supporting municipalities across Europe.

Marco graduated in International Relations in April 2017 at the University of Bologna - Forlì Campus. During his studies he developed a keen interest about environmental issues which led him to run into representatives from Zero Waste Italy and, subsequently, to move to Brussels for joining Zero Waste Europe. Marco is committed to the Zero Waste vision.